Second R/O
I'm curious if anyone has installed a second r/o rather than adding another membrane to a 600 gph unit. I'm considering doing this to enable me to concentrate to higher brix in a single pass and also give redundancy. If one failed, I'd still be able to process sap. On big runs like we had last week, a 600 isn't quite enough.
You might want to PM JohnJenner on MT as this is what he did this past season.
16' X 24' Sugarhouse
2' X 6' Leader Inferno Arch with Revolution Raised-Flue Pans, Smoky Lake preheater and hood
Deer Run Maple gas-powered 250 RO
WesFab 7" filter press
Kubota 1100 RTV with tracks and 125 gallon tank for transporting sap
800 taps on gravity and vacuum
Very supportive wife who is the best coworker
http://mapletrader.com/community/sho...ing-Sugarhouse
an additional post will be more cost effective in the sort term. I was looking at the 2 RO route a while back, but in the end just decided to go with 1 that had multiple pressure pumps for redundancy which may be an option for you as well.
The owner of 5400 tap operation we worked for in Byron had 2 CDL 600 RO's. He was always around so keeping up with sap was not an issue. He did add a 3rd tower to concentrate to higher brix. Not sure of his settings but he was getting 19 brix in 1 pass with 3 towers. The other RO was just a spare. He bought it used for a decent price and it saved his butt more than once when one of the pumps went and another time when the turbo went. I am not sure why he went with a tower vs. having 2 in tandem but I will ask him. Probably the plumbing work and RO room size was part of it.
305 taps on 2 Shurflo's, 31 taps on 3/16" and 229 taps on gravity. 565 in all
Mountain Maple S3 controller for 145 of the vacuum taps
2x6 Darveau Mystique Oil Fired Evaporator w/ Smoky Lake Simplicity Auto Draw
Wesfab 7” filter press
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote